While most people appreciate the importance of physical fitness, many have difficulty finding the motivation required to maintain a regular exercise program. Some people find it particularly difficult to maintain an exercise regimen that involves continuously repetitive motions, such as running, walking and bicycling.
Experienced athletes and trainers have found that feedback provides many people with motivation to maintain a regular exercise program. When a person can directly experience the results provided by an exercise program, that person typically will be encouraged to continue exercising. Unfortunately, the physical improvements obtained from exercise often come too slowly to provide sufficient motivation for many people to maintain a regular exercise program. It would therefore be useful for many athletes to have a more immediate, visual type of feedback to provide motivation for regular exercise.
Many experienced athletes and trainers also have found that competition may provide an even stronger motivation to maintain a regular exercise program. Some athletes, for example, will be more motivated to exercise when competing against a partner than by exercising alone. These athletes may, for example, exercise with a partner, enter into athletic contests such as races, or even just compare their current performance ability with a friend's.